The present disclosure relates to electrical generators and more specifically, alternating current (AC) generators for use with variable speed power sources.
There is a need for viable and consistent generation of AC electrical power from energy sources with variable speed. Typically, when dealing with energy sources that have variable output speeds, the traditional solution has been to couple the energy source to a DC generator as DC current is more easily normalized to a constant voltage using techniques known to those skilled in the art.
However, DC power systems have several drawbacks, DC power systems normally run at a relatively lower voltage than comparable AC power systems. As a result, DC systems require larger gauged wiring and components are, on average, larger and more expensive than equivalent AC components. While it is possible to convert a DC electrical current to an AC electrical current by electronically boosting the DC voltage and then artificially chopping the voltage to produce a pseudo AC sine wave, this solution is problematic due to the complex electrical control system necessary to produce the pseudo AC sine wave output and efficiency losses that occur in the required voltage transformation and voltage chopping.
Thus, there is a need to be able to convert a variable speed power source into reliable AC electrical current.